Qatar- Nakilat eyes foreign investments

(MENAFN - The Peninsula) Nakilat, the Qatari marine company which provides the critical transportation link in the country's liquefied natural gas (LNG) supply chain, will be expanding its investment outside Qatar.

Nakilat's Managing Director Abdullah Fadhalah Al Sulaiti (pictured) said yesterday that the company was looking to expand its investments, which currently reaches QR54.6bn

"The company has plans to increase its fleet of LNG carriers and it is holding talks with a number of European and Asian countries in the field. Nakilat has also plans to increase the company's stake in Greece's Maran Gas and expand its LNG delivering operations", he told QNA

The LNG global market is at a promising phase, something that encourages Nakilat to look for investment opportunities outside Qatar in order to achieve more added value to the company and its shareholders

"The company welcomes any investment that achieves profit which commensurate with its vision. However, the company's focus at the moment is mainly on the activity of gas shipping, an area which we are seeking to expand," he said

Al Sulaiti said gas production and its shipping is witnessing a significant growth, a matter which encourages many gas production facilities to hire ships to transport gas to various points worldwide. He noted that the company seeks to improve its performance both in financial matters and operations, as well as its foreign investments and it is keen to achieve development from year to year

Giving an update on the ongoing dry-dock project, he said the project is fast progressing and two more phases remain to be completed. Phase 2-A involves preparing a floating dock for the Q-Max vessels.

This phase will end in 2015. Phase 6, which involves the production and maintenance of FRP vessels, is the process of architectural designs and will be completed in two and a half to three years.

He said the dry-dock has provided maintenance to 200 vessels last year. It also hosted the construction of 10 new vessels. Some nine new vessels will be constructed this year as well. All of the 19 vessels will go to the Mesaieed Port.

Other deals include an agreement with Ras Laffan to construct seven vessels in the dry-dock. There was another agreement to build a 72-metre yacht. All these agreements were struck at a time were the dock was working with half of its operational capacity, Al Sulaiti added.

He said the total number of signed agreements will see 18 vessels constructed at the dry-dock. On plans to increase the number of workers at the dry-dock by 2016, Al Sulaiti said that increase in the number of workforce will be determined by the operational capacity

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